@Vetterli: "I will not set off cherry bombs in the shop" -- it's a chunk of the blackboard from the Mythbusters Simpsons episode, when they did the blackboard gag. There's a quick shot of Adam doing his punishment, Al Jean in overalls sweeping up cherry bombs, and Jamie looking, as usual (and correctly), like he owns the place. This is of course before they relocate to the bomb range.

Christ, I want this so bad. Fanboy crap aside, this actually seems really useful to me. I'm in school, so when I go to class I'm carrying my tablet or laptop, at least one large notebook if not two, this last term I needed a physical textbook for one class because it was newly published, and then calculators, pencils, etc random school shit. Being able to condense down the heaviest stuff I carry into one thing is EXTREMELY enticing.

I also came to the same conclusion as Norm; the middle spec'ed core i5 plus a type cover is the way to go. That's a fuck ton of money to be spending, regardless of me being a student. But I don't think they're overpriced. I paid close to $1000 (on sale) for my Thinkpad T420, and it's twice the size and doesn't have nearly as nice of a screen.

As Panos said, this definitely seems like the product they've been building up to when Surface was first introduced. I just wish I was actually in need of a new computer at the moment.

@Vetterli: That was only the first iteration. Within the last year Surface was only a minor loss (like $30M I think?), so it's bound to be profitable within the next year or two.

@Vetterli@RichardNixon Ha, good eye! I've been working a bit with the good crew down in the BermanBraun south offices who have been more than happy to help out on shoots when I'm unavailable (production, and post). They have lots of fun equipment down there; I think it's nice to get a different look every now and then.

@Vetterli: "Forced" ?, forced might not be the best way to describe it, you made a choice, and it wasn't a bad one per say, but still a choice :D

I threw off the yoke of a the 360 a few years ago, I bought the slim, or well traded in my last red ringed original version (27 altogether over the life of the console from beginning to end) when it died and the warranty covered it being replaced. The slim was good but I just never used it and I started gaming on pc again because it was so much cheaper and there was nothing on the console I felt compelled to get that I couldn't get cheaper on a pc. Plus pc games just looked so much prettier :D

Nothing wrong with the 360 or wanting the new STEAM gaming rigs, I think its neat that they are doing this for sure and I hope it works out and brings more people into the pc platform when they see the graphical and performance upgrade that having a pc offers. But either platform is fine really but for me having everything in one box makes more sense so having a console and a pc just seems like too much stuff and Im rambling now cuz I havent eaten anything tonight and my blood sugar is low haha.